Turns out the french ARE good for something other than pitying, complaining, and the menage'-a-trois
Friday, February 27, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Chuck Norris Roundhouse Kicks Separation of Church and State
Last night, I had a conversation with a classmate at a party. We were all watching the Obama speech, or it was in the background rather, and it spurred some political discourse. Of course, I am more than happy to hock my opinion to any who will stand in my immediate vicinity, and luckily my classmate is also a big talker, so it went well. He is a very southern young man, with very conservative values. He is protestant (likely evangelical, but not sure) Christian, and was raised here in the south. To illustrate the insularity of the South, he didn't know what Manischewitz was. Seriously. Someone brought it to the party, and he eyes with incredulity, saying, "what is that? I've never heard of that." So little exposure to people outside of this area. But he's a nice guy. Anyways, he was taking the side of the clapless Republicans during Obama's speech, and for the sake of argument, I shifted from my center-left opinions to real Left. I wanted to get a rise out of him, but also try to poke a hole in some of his stances and see what he's all about. I made the point that the Republican party is suffering losses now because they have become too Right and too Christian; flying a banner of anti-abortion, anti-evolution, and pro-guns. Now, all of these are important issues, but my point is that they have become too much the only point that Republicans are making. The Republican Party experienced a resurgence in the 70's and 80's as a rejection of the anti-intellectual argument proferred by the democrats during the 60's and early 70's. The abject populist activism without regard for intelligent, thought-out leadership was what was lacking in the democrats, and the republicans were more than happy to fill that void. And how they did, which is beautifully exemplified in the uber-republican satire Jack McDonaughey, the Right of Right rich GE CEO on 30 Rock. More lately, the Republican Party has pandered to the Evangelical Christians, who have formed an increasingly cohesive voting bloc. And so my point was that the Republicans have actually estranged potentially Republican-Voting people like myself, who do not have as much in common with evangelicals as an ideology, and in fact despise the notion of ideologues gaining executive power. What my dear friend responded, emphatically, was "Actually, I think the Republican Party isn't right-wing enough." And to me that's where the problem lies. The Treaty of Tripoli was signed by John Adams, states, "The Government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." Even more directly is James Madison:
We are not a Christian Nation, we are a nation of christian, jews, muslims, hindus, seikhs, and whoever else seeks freedom to practice their religion, and to be guaranteed the inalienable human rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We are not a nation to be bible-thumped into accepting christ and christian values into our life. The republican party, in my opinion, is too conservative, and is allied too sharply with evangelical christian values. I think they are important to be discussed and determined, but they should not be that parties', nee any parties', sole focus. I demand more depth from my elected officials. And if neither option has the requisite depth of thought and intent, I'll pick the one that is less likely to launch a pogrom. The Republicans have traditionally been the voice of intellect and reason against heinous Big Gov't policies from the Left. Now, with the help of mass-media pundits, the Republican message has been increasingly monoptic: less taxes, more morality. That morality stuff is irrelevent to the public. The government should not even be thinking of legislating morality! I thought we learned that one during Prohibition. This country has plenty of religion, and if they don't, that's the church's problem, not congress'. I like the idea of smaller government and lower taxes, but if we want to have a multi-theater war, we have to pay back our debt. Say what you will about our frigit Northern Neighbors (Canada), they have strictly adhered to conservative fiscal policy, and as a result have had a balanced budget for the better part of a decade. America should take a lesson from them. Shame on the republicans for allowing the country to run a huge deficit under their leadership. They had the Legislative and Executive for the better part of the pat 8 years, and they have run up a big tab. The American people, who elected these people who ran up this large tab, need to pay back the debt. I know we've all lost all our money, but if America is to be viable, we have to pay back what's ours. If the US govt starts becoming a shaky lending institution, Lord help us. So my point is, the Republicans need to push stronger their intellectualism, populism, adaptability, focus on responsibility and temperance, and they shall find success once again.
"The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretence, infringed.''
We are not a Christian Nation, we are a nation of christian, jews, muslims, hindus, seikhs, and whoever else seeks freedom to practice their religion, and to be guaranteed the inalienable human rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We are not a nation to be bible-thumped into accepting christ and christian values into our life. The republican party, in my opinion, is too conservative, and is allied too sharply with evangelical christian values. I think they are important to be discussed and determined, but they should not be that parties', nee any parties', sole focus. I demand more depth from my elected officials. And if neither option has the requisite depth of thought and intent, I'll pick the one that is less likely to launch a pogrom. The Republicans have traditionally been the voice of intellect and reason against heinous Big Gov't policies from the Left. Now, with the help of mass-media pundits, the Republican message has been increasingly monoptic: less taxes, more morality. That morality stuff is irrelevent to the public. The government should not even be thinking of legislating morality! I thought we learned that one during Prohibition. This country has plenty of religion, and if they don't, that's the church's problem, not congress'. I like the idea of smaller government and lower taxes, but if we want to have a multi-theater war, we have to pay back our debt. Say what you will about our frigit Northern Neighbors (Canada), they have strictly adhered to conservative fiscal policy, and as a result have had a balanced budget for the better part of a decade. America should take a lesson from them. Shame on the republicans for allowing the country to run a huge deficit under their leadership. They had the Legislative and Executive for the better part of the pat 8 years, and they have run up a big tab. The American people, who elected these people who ran up this large tab, need to pay back the debt. I know we've all lost all our money, but if America is to be viable, we have to pay back what's ours. If the US govt starts becoming a shaky lending institution, Lord help us. So my point is, the Republicans need to push stronger their intellectualism, populism, adaptability, focus on responsibility and temperance, and they shall find success once again.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Classic Moments in Lefkove History
one time we were trapped as children in costa rica after being robbed of our tickets, money, and passports in the rural countryside of a very unstable nicaragua, and my father was nearly hacked up by a farmer with a machete. needless to say everything worked out, but it was a bad situation for a little while. I must have been 9... 8 maybe. my dad used to be a big windsurfer, and so he would go find these exotic locales for windsurfing and he found this beach out in the middle of nowhere in nicaragua, miles down some shiest-assed single track, with great wind and waves. completely secluded. so he went out windsurfing, and aaron and I played on the very deserted beach. Then some farm-boy nicaraguan prick rummages through the car and took everything. everything important that is.including the passports. including the money. including the plane tickets. including the car keys.
so we were stuck in nicaragua for a while. first we had to find someone who could hotwire a car. then we had to get back to the village, call america, get money wired, i don't know how we got back into costa rica without passports. once we were in costa rica we had to bum a place to stay with friends, then get a passport, which takes a while in a 3rd world country. fucking awesome in retrospect. san jose is one of the worst places on earth however. so anyways, when the keys/important shit was stolen, and we got the car hotwired, we drove around to some of the farms there to try and recoup our shit. And by farms i mean 3 walled shacks in the middle of animal-plowed fields. my dad (he speaks spanish) goes up to this farmer working in the field, and tells him that he thinks his son stole our shit (based on mine and aaron's ineffible testimony). the guy freaks out and raises up his machete like he's gonna slice my dad's face up, right in front of his own damn kids too! then my dad puts his hands up and was like wait wait wait and he gives him this whole sob story about how we are trapped and his wife back in america is going to kill him etc etc. it ended up with the guy offering my dad money! what a place. he really felt bad for us. and apparently his son didn't take our shit. but what the fuck do I know, they all look alike.
We ended up back in costa rica, but without passports I don't know how. I suspect someone was bribed. short on cash, we ended up staying with this friend named dan daniels, who claimed he was in the first superbowl. I think he was hiding out in costa rica because he was wanted by the FBI for drugs or some other federally prosecutable offense. He was a strange liar, and there was a creepiness about him that even a sheltered ADHD 8-year-old could detect. After several trips to the US embassy, as well as a multi-day foot-tour of every photography store in San Jose (read: the 7th circle of hell), we made it back to the good ol' US of A.
If I'm not mistaken, this was also the same trip my father was chased by an irate goose near lake arenal. classic lefkove moments
so we were stuck in nicaragua for a while. first we had to find someone who could hotwire a car. then we had to get back to the village, call america, get money wired, i don't know how we got back into costa rica without passports. once we were in costa rica we had to bum a place to stay with friends, then get a passport, which takes a while in a 3rd world country. fucking awesome in retrospect. san jose is one of the worst places on earth however. so anyways, when the keys/important shit was stolen, and we got the car hotwired, we drove around to some of the farms there to try and recoup our shit. And by farms i mean 3 walled shacks in the middle of animal-plowed fields. my dad (he speaks spanish) goes up to this farmer working in the field, and tells him that he thinks his son stole our shit (based on mine and aaron's ineffible testimony). the guy freaks out and raises up his machete like he's gonna slice my dad's face up, right in front of his own damn kids too! then my dad puts his hands up and was like wait wait wait and he gives him this whole sob story about how we are trapped and his wife back in america is going to kill him etc etc. it ended up with the guy offering my dad money! what a place. he really felt bad for us. and apparently his son didn't take our shit. but what the fuck do I know, they all look alike.
We ended up back in costa rica, but without passports I don't know how. I suspect someone was bribed. short on cash, we ended up staying with this friend named dan daniels, who claimed he was in the first superbowl. I think he was hiding out in costa rica because he was wanted by the FBI for drugs or some other federally prosecutable offense. He was a strange liar, and there was a creepiness about him that even a sheltered ADHD 8-year-old could detect. After several trips to the US embassy, as well as a multi-day foot-tour of every photography store in San Jose (read: the 7th circle of hell), we made it back to the good ol' US of A.
If I'm not mistaken, this was also the same trip my father was chased by an irate goose near lake arenal. classic lefkove moments
Sunday, February 8, 2009
It's hip to be a hassidic "rapper"
Matisyahu has opened the possibility that hassidim can rap and not be considered entirely lame. I still consider it pretty silly. This song is highly produced, with excessive auto-tune, a-la T-pain, but underneath it has the potential for some good lyric-slinging. based on the amount of production put into their singing, I feel like they are going for pop-appeal, which is a shame, because these dudes should get in touch with their inner nas. Verdict: catchy, but still kind of silly. Because it's hassidim singing (one chabad, the other bostoner[I can't believe that's a real sect!]), I figure it's blogworthy.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Defense of US Economy
OK, I recognize that the US economy is in the shitter, and that people's insatiable greed combined with lack of proper oversight essentially have single-handedly led to millions of jobless, elimination of pension and retirement funds, closure of charities, and all-around ragtime for everyone. But, I do want to comment on a my father in law's statements about the US economy, basically saying that the US doesn't produce anything, and that Canada is very viable because it "makes things." Now, I am no economist, but I will try and interpret the already dumbed-down data supplied by the CIA worldbook.
First off, the US population is almost 10 times that of Canada, and our GDP is over 10 times of Canada's. Of course, all of this is dropping now, and the US is probably dropping at a higher rate than Canada's, but I assume we are still around these relative values.
The US and Canada have very similar distribution of labor force: around 4/5 of the labor force in both countries is in the Service Industry: lawyers, IT support, customer service...you know, services. The remaining labor force is in manufacturing, industry, and agriculture.
So, what does America make? Well, we are significant manufacturers and producers of petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining.
what does Canada produce? transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas.
So pretty similar stuff. Interestingly, the US produces around 8 times the oil that Canada produces, even though canada has about 8 times the proven oil reserves as the US (this is including oil sands). Its a similar story with natural gas. The US is also a major coal producer. Sadly, the US consumes WAY more oil and natural gas than our friendly northern neighbor. But again, 10 times the population, 8 times the GDP, and a 10% higher household income.
Almost 80% of Canada's export are to the US, and 65% of her imports are from the US. So we ARE producing something. We are producing airplanes, motor vehicles, machinery of all sorts, telecommunications, agricultural producst, but limited consumer goods. I think what my esteemed Dr. Father-in-law was hitting on was the limited production of consumer goods in America...indeed, this is all bought from Asia. But so is nearly all of Canada's consumer goods.
Canada has not suffered as much from the economic disaster as the US has because Canada observes prudent fiscal policy, and have managed a balanced government budget since 1997. However, they are heavily dependent and in fact intertwined with the US economy in their reliance on US exports as well as imports. Additionally, Canada is reliant to a significant degree on American banks for commercial lending (which is in sharp decline in this credit crunch), so now they are suffering from the current crisis as well.
In summary, we have two very similar countries, but one would be remiss in saying that the US is not the world's major industrial nation, with a highly diversified economy producing a wide variety of quality goods and services for the world. And I will go as far as to say that the economic boom Canada has experienced since the end of WWII (until that point the canadian economy was essentially agrarian) was only made possible by the great growth seen in the American economy.
First off, the US population is almost 10 times that of Canada, and our GDP is over 10 times of Canada's. Of course, all of this is dropping now, and the US is probably dropping at a higher rate than Canada's, but I assume we are still around these relative values.
The US and Canada have very similar distribution of labor force: around 4/5 of the labor force in both countries is in the Service Industry: lawyers, IT support, customer service...you know, services. The remaining labor force is in manufacturing, industry, and agriculture.
So, what does America make? Well, we are significant manufacturers and producers of petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, mining.
what does Canada produce? transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas.
So pretty similar stuff. Interestingly, the US produces around 8 times the oil that Canada produces, even though canada has about 8 times the proven oil reserves as the US (this is including oil sands). Its a similar story with natural gas. The US is also a major coal producer. Sadly, the US consumes WAY more oil and natural gas than our friendly northern neighbor. But again, 10 times the population, 8 times the GDP, and a 10% higher household income.
Almost 80% of Canada's export are to the US, and 65% of her imports are from the US. So we ARE producing something. We are producing airplanes, motor vehicles, machinery of all sorts, telecommunications, agricultural producst, but limited consumer goods. I think what my esteemed Dr. Father-in-law was hitting on was the limited production of consumer goods in America...indeed, this is all bought from Asia. But so is nearly all of Canada's consumer goods.
Canada has not suffered as much from the economic disaster as the US has because Canada observes prudent fiscal policy, and have managed a balanced government budget since 1997. However, they are heavily dependent and in fact intertwined with the US economy in their reliance on US exports as well as imports. Additionally, Canada is reliant to a significant degree on American banks for commercial lending (which is in sharp decline in this credit crunch), so now they are suffering from the current crisis as well.
In summary, we have two very similar countries, but one would be remiss in saying that the US is not the world's major industrial nation, with a highly diversified economy producing a wide variety of quality goods and services for the world. And I will go as far as to say that the economic boom Canada has experienced since the end of WWII (until that point the canadian economy was essentially agrarian) was only made possible by the great growth seen in the American economy.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Hybrid!
I love hybrids, and this one is no exception to my love. It is a combination bollo tie and bow tie, sent to me by none other than Ben "baby-boi-tha-prince" Wilson. I like it also because it creates the illusion that in chassidic realms, even the bowties have payos.
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